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Types of Close Encounters

Over the years, I seek to accumulate as much knowledge about the paranormal as I could in reading books, watching documentaries, attending seminars and now using the internet. There was always enjoyment in combing over the field notes of cryptozologist, going over case studies of investigators and participating in locals ghosts hunts. Recently, my focus has turned in learning about more ufology.

What began this journey was not knowing what close encounters meant when referring to UFOs. I am aware of the term and how it was reference in movies, but didn’t understand what it meant. You would be surprise on how many other paranormal investigator are unaware to the concept of close encounters when asked. Hence the reason for this article.

Close encounters is defined as a classification of sightings involving unidentified flying object. The idea was developed by ufologist Josef Allen Hynek in his book The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry published in 1972. He defined three types of close encounters. First kind is sighting UFOs from a distance where a craft was observed landing, flying, hover, etc. Second kind is sighting UFOs along with any physical evidence found such as landing sites, crop circles, radiation, etc. Third kind is when there is a presence of an alien, creature, robot, or anything occupying the craft. Hynek’s classification are standards within ufology.

There has been suggestions made to expand Hynek’s categorization with other types which are not widely accepted. Encounters of the fourth kind involves the abduction of humans which many are reported every years. The fifth kind is the direct communication between aliens and humans by telepathy, dreams, and so on. The sixth kind is disturbing, as it deals with UFO sightings involving the death of a human or animals such as cattle mutilations. The seventh kind, the most controversial, associates with the creation of human/alien hybrid.

As my knowledge expands in ufology, I will be posting more articles in the near future.

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Had an encounter with the Paranormal? I would like to hear your story and post it on a new section on Abnormal Realms called Encounters. Feel free to write in to abnormalrealm@gmail.com or fill in the spaces below.